The Eureka City Council on Tuesday will look at possibly following the lead of Arcata on two fronts -- with reports on the development of a potential excessive electricity tax measure for the November ballot and a plastic bag ban -- and provide feedback to staff.

A new council member is expected to be sitting at the dais.

Mayor Frank Jager announced Monday that he recommends the council appoint Chet Albin, a retired insurance broker, to the seat being vacated by Councilman Lance Madsen due to health reasons. Albin was selected from a pool that included two other applicants: Leslie Lollich, a public education and outreach officer for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services, and Barry Smith, president of Barry Smith Construction.

If the council follows Jager's recommendation, Albin will immediately be administered the oath of office at the special 6 p.m. session scheduled right before the regular meeting.

A Eureka resident since 1985 and a lifelong Humboldt County resident, Albin formerly served as chairman of the Eureka Parking Place Commission and vice chairman of the Eureka Housing Advisory Board. He is currently vice chairman of the Eureka Planning Commission.

Albin said he re-registered with the Elections Office in October after purchasing a house in the 5th Ward, where he had been looking to buy a home west of E Street in the Williams and Grotto streets area that would be walkable to Henderson Center for about 18 months.

"This one just happened to show up at the time, and we were able to jump on it," Albin said.

The council also will hear a report about an ordinance that would prohibit single-use plastic bags and provide direction to staff on how to proceed.

Eureka Grocery Outlet co-owner Mary Barber said the store would 100 percent support a ban.

"We need to be better at recycling if we're going to continue to use plastic bags," she said. "Otherwise, let's go to cloth or other alternative means that we have."

The North Coast Co-op also would support a ban, marketing and membership director Melanie Bettenhausen said.

"We've never carried plastic bags in our stores, and we reduced paper bag use by 80 percent by charging 10 cents for paper bags," she said. "We donate the money to the Cooperative Community Fund."

The city of Arcata adopted an ordinance that bans single-use plastic bags at most businesses within city limits earlier this month. Under the ordinance, which will be implemented Feb. 1, the single-use bags are prohibited at grocery and convenience food stores, pharmacies and retail businesses.

Under the Arcata ordinance, a paper bag made of at least 40 percent post-consumer recyclable materials will be offered for 10 cents, and the money will be kept by the retailer.

In other business, the council also will provide direction to staff on whether to develop an excessive residential electricity use tax measure for the November 2014 ballot.

Arcata voters passed Measure I, a marijuana grow tax, in November 2012 to assesses a 45 percent tax on residences that use more than 600 percent of the energy baseline -- or the energy used to power three average homes.

The measure was drafted after the city learned its residential electricity use from 2000 to 2006 increased by 30 percent. It went into effect this fall.

Arcata Environmental Services Director Mark Andre said the city is still collecting data on the tax, which began showing up on November bills.

Collected by PG&E, the tax is projected to net $1 million in revenue, and the money will be put in Arcata's general fund. Arcata paid PG&E $650,000 to implement the tax.

If the Eureka council directs staff to move forward with a ballot measure, the first step would be to have PG&E survey the city's electric meters to determine how many residences exceed 600 percent of baseline, the report said. The survey is estimated to cost $1,000, and would take two to four weeks to complete.

The council is also being asked to provide direction to staff regarding a proposed commercial food waste collection program.

According to a staff report, Humboldt Waste Management Authority received a $200,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to perform a one-year pilot program for commercial food waste collection in the region.

As of Dec. 9, the project diverted more than 900 tons of compostable waste, including about 725 tons of food waste and food-soiled paper, as well as an additional 180 tons of dry wall and unpainted lumber.

Continuing the program would cost between $450,000 to $500,000 for full implementation, or about $287,000 to $315,000 for a limited program, the report said.